Chapter 1

"Stella, why are you arguing with a dying woman? You're perfectly healthy."

Leo slammed the marriage papers onto the table, his voice laced with pure impatience.

I'd just returned from the Dakar Rally, my right shoulder shattered, blood soaking through my racing suit.

I risked my life to win the championship for him, and what I got in return was him marrying his first love.

"She only has six months left. Can't you just make things easy for her?"

Only Leo, that fool, couldn't see that his first love had been faking her illness all along.

I looked at him, and then I laughed.

"Leo, my right arm is ruined. Did you care even once?"

He frowned. "What are you throwing a fit about now?"

I didn't say anything more. Instead, right in front of him, I dialed Vincent King's number.

"Mr. King, I'll sign the cooperation agreement you mentioned last time."

Stella POV

The roar of the engines ripped through the wind on the Death Valley track, kicking up clouds of yellow dust.

I steered the battered red race car, cutting into the final turn at an impossible angle, executed an extreme drift, and sped across the finish line first.

Bang. Confetti showered down. The crowd erupted.

I won.

It was a Dakar-level endurance race, forty-eight hours of continuous high-intensity driving. I had secured the most prestigious championship trophy for Leo Thorne's "Redline" racing team.

The moment I pushed open the car door, I practically fell out of the driver's seat.

My right shoulder had been severely dislocated in a crash yesterday. To finish the race, I popped it back in myself.

Now my entire right arm was swollen and numb, blood soaking through the thick fire-resistant racing suit, a truly shocking sight.

Before the race, Leo had kissed my forehead by the track.

"Stella, as long as we win this championship, I'll propose to you. I'll let the whole world know that you are my only wife."

Seven years of a secret relationship, seven years of desperate battles, and I'd finally heard those words.

I refused the stretcher offered by the medical team, enduring the excruciating pain, and dialed Leo's number, full of expectation.

"Sorry, the number you dialed is temporarily unavailable."

The cold, robotic female voice was like a bucket of ice water, dousing the fire in my heart.

Perhaps he was busy preparing a surprise proposal?

I found a team medic to casually bandage my wound and rushed back to the club's base in the country on an overnight flight.

It was late at night, and the base was quiet.

I pushed open the door to Leo's office. No flowers, no ring, no grand surprise, just an empty, cold room.

The lounge door was ajar, and I heard Leo's deep, gentle voice. A tone I rarely heard him use.

"Summer, did you take your medicine? Don't be scared, it's just thunder. I'm right here on the phone with you."

"Be good. You're my wife now. If I don't stay with you, who will I stay with?"

I froze in place, my blood seeming to turn to ice in an instant, even my breathing stopped.

Wife?

I pushed the door open.

Leo heard the movement and turned his head. Seeing me covered in blood and grime, a flicker of panic crossed his eyes, but it quickly returned to his usual calm.

He murmured a few soothing words into the phone, then quickly hung up.

"You're back. What happened to you?"

He stepped forward, trying to check my injuries.

I avoided his hand, my gaze fixed on the glaring marriage papers on his desk, next to a photo.

In the photo, Leo wore a white shirt, and the woman beside him, with a gentle, fragile smile, was none other than his first love, Summer Hayes.

The date on it was three days ago.

That was the same day I almost plunged off a cliff in Death Valley, car and all, because of brake failure.

"What's this?"

I asked calmly, so calmly that even I found it unbelievable.

Leo's face froze for a second, then he rubbed his temples, his tone laced with a sense of helpless justification.

"Stella, listen to me. Summer's congenital heart disease has worsened. The doctor says she only has six months at most. Her biggest regret in life is never getting to wear a wedding dress."

"Her family was forcing her to marry an old man for money. I couldn't just stand by and watch her die with regrets."

"It's just a piece of paper, a way to fulfill her dying wish. After... I'll marry you properly, with all the pomp and circumstance you deserve."

Looking at the man I'd been with for seven years, I suddenly felt like I didn't know him at all.

"A piece of paper?"

I pulled at the corners of my chapped lips.

"Leo, while I was risking my life on the track to win a championship for you, you were marrying another woman. You call that 'just a piece of paper'?"

Leo frowned slightly, his voice deepening.

"Stella, when did you become so heartless and calculating? You're a healthy person with a great future, and Summer is dying! Are you really going to target even someone who's about to die?"

Heartless? Calculating?

An excruciating pain shot through my right shoulder, making me almost unable to stand.

I'd suffered countless injuries for his racing team, brushing shoulders with death several times.

In the end, all I got was a "heartless."

"Fine, I won't be calculating."

I lowered my eyes.

There were no hysterical arguments, no weeping accusations.

Because the moment my heart died, it was eerily silent.

I turned, dragging my broken body, and walked out of that office, which held seven years of my youth, one step at a time.

Just then, his phone rang again.

"Leo, my chest hurts so much..."

Summer' weak, tearful voice came through.

Leo turned, grabbed his car keys, and rushed out.

He didn't even look back at me.